Interim committee takes over PCB

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Tuesday appointed an interim management committee to take control of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB). The PM announced the necessary amendments in the PCB Constitution to effect the supersession by the interim committee.

The interim committee has been directed to elect one of its members as Chairman and this post went to Najam Sethi who was already working as caretaker chairman of the Board since late July.

The move to appoint an interim committee was expected for a while since Mr. Sethi was unable to exercise full powers because of a judgement by the Islamabad High Court in August on a Constitutional Writ Petition challenging the election of his predecessor Zaka Ashraf.

With October 18 given as the deadline by the court to the PCB to hold elections, the Prime Minister, who had initially appointed Mr. Sethi to head the cricket affairs using his constitutional powers, announced the new set up on Tuesday.

A PCB press release said that Mr. Sharif had taken the decision in view of the prevailing state of affairs of the PCB with regard to its constitution and the directions given by the Islamabad High Court and the pending Intra-Court Appeal in the same court.

"The Patron of PCB i.e., the Prime Minister of Pakistan has been pleased to direct the following: 1. Paragraph Section 41 of PCB Constitution has been amended and under the said paragraph the Board has been superseded. An Interim Management Committee (IMC) has been constituted to ensure that PCB remains enabled to continue to perform day-to-day domestic and international functions for the promotion of the game and in line with the directions of the Court," the release said.